In this article

Manage GDPR data subject requests in Yammer Enterprise

12/16/2018

13 minutes to read

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In this article

As a verified admin, you can erase a user from Yammer to comply with a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) data subject request. When you erase a user, personally identifying information about the user is removed. This does not remove the user's messages or files. You can review a user's messages and files in order to decide which ones to delete. Any content associated with the user that remains will be identified with an ID, but not with the user's name.

Important

Before deleting data or erasing a user to honor a GDPR data subject request, your network data retention setting must be set to Hard Delete.

Choose the approach that makes sense for your situation, and follow the steps in the order listed. The order matters: once you erase a user you can no longer find their data to delete it.

Approach

Steps

Keep all messages and files created by the user.

Remove the user by using the Erase the user option. This removes the user from the home network and any external networks they belong to, but does not delete any of their messages or files.

Delete all messages created by the user and decide which files to delete

1. Do one per-user export of the user's data for the home network, and one for each external network they belong to.2. Review files in each external network's export, and delete the files as necessary.3. Remove the user from each network by using the Permanently remove this user, and remove their messages option.4. In the home network, use the Erase the user option.5. Within 14 days, remove any files stored in Yammer in the home network as necessary, as well as any information not included in the per user export.*

Review files and messages created by the user and decide which to keep and which to delete

1. Do one per-user export of the user's data for the home network, and one for each external networks they belong to.2. Review files and messages in each external network's export, and delete the files and messages as necessary.3. In the home network, use the Erase this user option.4. Within 14 days, remove any files or messages as necessary from the home network, as well as any information not included in the per user export.*

* If you prefer to have more than 14 days to review and delete files and messages, you can do this prior to erasing the user.

Important

Closing an AAD account does not delete the user and their information. For deletion of user information you must go the Yammer admin center and complete the instructions provided below.

Ensure your network data retention policy is set to Hard Delete before deleting a user or the user's data

Yammer has data retention settings that either soft-delete or hard-delete data when a user deletes a message or file. If this is set to Soft Delete, data a user has deleted continues to be stored. If the Yammer data retention setting is set to Hard Delete, the deleted information is no longer stored in Yammer

This has two implications for complying with GDPR:

When you're doing the actual erase of the user and deleting their data, the network data retention policy must be set to Hard Delete.

If your data retention policy has been set to Soft Delete in the past, data the user deleted will show up in the data export. In order to permanently delete the soft-deleted data, you must delete it while the network is set to Hard Delete.

For any file added or modified by this user from Yammer, lists the Yammer ID, type of file, name, description, and path to the file, along with metadata including the group it was posted in. The storage_path column shows whether the file is stored in Yammer or SharePoint.

Files.csv does not contain the actual files.

Files that are stored in Yammer are exported in their native format to the Files folder of the zip file. Files that are stored in SharePoint are not exported.

The file_ID and path columns in Files.csv can be used to identify the files in the Files folder or to go directly to the file in Yammer. For information about how to go directly to a specific file, see Delete specific messages or files.

For files that are stored in SharePoint, use the download_url column to download the file. Or, you can use Content Search in Office 365 to find files stored in SharePoint and created or modified by a specific user.

To delete a file, whether it is saved in Yammer or SharePoint, always delete it from Yammer. This erases the metadata in Yammer as well as the metadata and file in SharePoint. If you delete the file from SharePoint directly, the Yammer metadata still remains.

Groups.csv

For any group created or modified by the user, lists the Yammer group ID, name, description, privacy status, whether the group is internal or external, link to the group, creation date, and updated date. This file also includes the aggregated total number of polls the user voted on, and the polls the user created.

LikedMessages.csv

For any message liked by the user, lists the message ID, thread ID, group ID, group name, privacy status, sender ID, name and email, the full body of the message, the ids for attachments, and creation and deletion information. A list of polls you created will also be provided. For announcements, includes the title of the announcement.

Messages.csv

For any message sent or modified by the user, lists the message ID, thread ID, group ID, group name, privacy status, sender ID, name and email, the full body of the message, the ids for attachments, and creation and deletion information. A list of polls you created will also be provided. For announcements, includes the title of the announcement.

When the user's account activity data is ready, you'll receive a Yammer inbox message with a link to the data. Click the link to open it.

Exported data does not contain bookmarked messages, group membership, followed or following users, followed topics, and the user's notification, application, and language settings. To find this data for an individual user, click the Yammer settings icon , click People, and click the name of the user whose data you want to view. This page shows the user's profile, conversations they've participated in, any files, images, and videos they have posted, along with their bookmarks, followed and following users, and followed topics.

Troubleshoot data export

If the .zip file is corrupted and can't be unzipped, try again. If this doesn't work, contact Support.

If the log.txt file shows export errors for one category of data, try again. If there are still errors, contact Support.

Delete specific messages or files

Use the Yammer file ID from the export to go directly to the file in Yammer and delete it.

Important

For Yammer files stored in SharePoint, delete the files from Yammer in order to remove the Yammer metadata as well as the file.

To locate and delete a specific message:

Build the URL for the message. Use https://www.yammer.com/network_name/#/Threads/show?threadId=thread_id. For example, http://www.yammer.com/contosomkt.onmicrosoft.com/#/threads/show?threadID=135893.

In the message, click the More icon , and then click Delete.

To locate and delete a specific Yammer file stored in Yammer or SharePoint:

Use the Search box in Yammer. For example, for a file named 12345678.pptx in the export, search for 1235678.pptx. In the search results, click Go to File, and then click Delete this File.

You can also build the URL for the file. Use https://www.yammer.com/network_name/#/files/file_number, for example https://www.yammer.com/contosomkt.onmicrosoft.com/#/files/12345678. On the Yammer page for the file, click Delete this File.

Find and delete user data not included in the per-user export

There is some user data that is not included in an export. To find this data for a user, go to Yammer settings > People, and click the name of the user.

The following table shows how to change or delete this data if needed.

Type of data

How to change or delete it

Bookmarked messages, group membership, followed or following users, and followed topics

Edit the user's profile and settings (done by user)

A user can edit their own profile. Administrators can't change the user profile or settings.

The user can click the Yammer settings icon , and then click Edit Settings.

Select the tab for the change you want to make:

To change your profile, select Profile.

To change your password, select Password.

To edit your notifications, select Networks.

To see your account activity, select Account Activity.

To see what applications you've installed, select My Applications.

To set preferences, select Preferences.

Remove a user from a group including an external group

In the group, click Members.

Click the Settings icon next to the user's name.

Click Remove from group.

Remove an external participant from a conversation

In the Yammer conversation, click Remove Participants.

Erase a user from your Yammer home network and external networks

Important

When you erase a user, there is a 14-day window for you to decide which files and messages to save or delete in the home network before the user-identifying data is completely erased. If you want to review and delete some or all of the user's messages and files, be sure to export user data and do the deletions before erasing the user's account, or within 14 days after selecting Erase this user. After the 14-day window, files and messages will continue to exist but will be marked as belonging to a former user.

After a user's account transitions from deactivated to removed, you can no longer associate user data with the user, which means you can no longer export and review their data.

As an admin, you can erase a user from your home network and from any external networks they belong to.

Remove a user (done by admin)

In the Yammer admin center, go to Users > Remove Users.

Enter an existing user's name. After you select the user, the options for removal are displayed.

If you want to keep all the user's files and messages, select Erase this user.

If you want to review the user's messages and files, and if you have already reviewed and deleted any messages or files in external groups, threads, or networks the user is a guest member in:

Select Erase this user. Wipe their name and personal information, but leave their messages. (Can't be undone after 14 days): This deactivates the user for 14 days so that you can export user data and evaluate home network files and messages before the user is permanently deleted.

This option marks the user as deactivated. The deactivated user is listed on the Remove Users page. Within 14 days, you can reactivate the user.

After 14 days, a message is sent to all the networks admins and verified admins informing them the user has been deleted.